72 SEA-DYAK LEGEND. 



" He is only lazy," they said, " he deserves a thrashing ; he 

 does nothing but sleep and is too lazy to wake up at night and 

 drive the porcupine away ! " 



Poor Pulang-Gana ! His was a hard lot indeed ! 



He determined to keep careful watch one night, and what- 

 ever it cost him, to kill the porcupine, so that his brothers might 

 have no more cause for blaming him. That night he did not 

 sleep at all. The porcupine came just before dawn when all 

 was very still. Pulang-Gana was awake, and went after it, 

 determined to kill it. The animal ran away and Pulang-Gana 

 followed. The moon was shining brightly and he had no diffi- 

 culty in seeing in what direction it went. Every now and then 

 the porcupine stopped, but as soon as Pulang-Gana came close 

 to it, it started off again and he was not able to kill it. So the 

 animal went on and Pulang-Gana followed. He was determin- 

 ed not to give up the chase until he had killed the animal that 

 had been the cause of his being scolded and beaten so often. 



The sun was beginning to rise in the East and still Pulang- 

 Gana pursued the porcupine. 



" Sooner or later," he said to himself, " I must catch it up. 

 The animal is already tired. I will not return home till I have 

 killed it." 



The porcupine now came to the foot of a rocky mountain. 

 Pulang-Gana thought the chase would soon be over and he 

 hurried on. But before he could come up to the animal it 

 made its escape into an opening in the solid rock. The cave 

 into which it had disappeared was large enough for a man to 

 stand upright in, and Pulang-Gana said to himself : 



" Now I have you ; wait till I have a light to show me 

 where you are, and then I will come in and kill you." 



He collected some dry branches and tied them together for 

 a torch. He found a piece of dry soft wood, and also a short 

 stick of some hard wood the point of which he sharpened. With 

 the palms of his hands he worked the small stick and drilled a 

 hole in the soft wood. Soon it began to smoke, and with the 

 aid of some dry twigs he blew the fire into a blaze ; then he 

 lighted his torch, and hurried into the cave after the porcupine. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



